* Links to photos - difficult to change

[Fergus]

Hello all

Just got a new PC and have installed FH with a new directory structure but can not make the chages required in 'Work with External File Links'

The old link to the data file was

CDataFamilyHistorianGedcomAnderson3  

and the old link to the photos was

CDataFamilyHisorianFH_photos

with a seperate subdirectory A,B,C,D etc for each group of surnames

My new link to the data file is

CUsersFergusAndersonFamilyHistorianGedcomAnderson3

And I put the photos in a directory alongside as before at

CUsersFergusAndersonFamilyHistorianFH_Photos

with the sub directories of A and B and C etc for each surname group (picture name stored as Bently_Percy.jpg) and the program can not find the pictures.

My question please for help are

1. Can I easily change all the links using 'Work with External File Links'

2. Reading Jane's recomended method of organising folders I wonder if I have a bed method. The Gedcom file is at an equal level in the directory tree compared to the FH_photos directory, (in GedcomAnderson3) and not above it. Is this good / bad

3. Should I move all photos into ONE directory first, then re-do all the links in one effort (hopefuly FH will do this for me)

4. Is my total path too long and in danger of being corrupted if it gets over 255 characters - If so I need to shorten the directory names before re-doing the links)

Looking forward to any replies.

Fergus

ID:3880

[Jane]

If you get on with your structure then it's fine.

To change all the links simply select the FH_Data directory in the External Links Tool and point it to your new directory.

The directory length is only a problem on some older systems. If your disk is formatted NTFS (which is normal for Vista) this should not affect you.

[Fergus]

Dear Jane, many thanks for your reply. Sorry I still can not do it. Below are two screen shots of the directory structures. . .

First the old directory that it is trying to get the images as shown from the 'work with external file links'



Then here is my current structure as per my windows explorer



You may note that my file Anderson3 is within the GedcomAnderson3 directory. is this the correct place?

Please could you direct me step by step the right way to change these links.

Is it a mistake to have them organised in surname sub-folders?

I want to get this correct and follow your recomendations as I wish to upgrade to V4 and you said elsewhere get things correctly laid out before changing.

many thanks Fergus [smile]

[Jane]

Click on the Family Trees folder, at the top, click on Re-Map (I think it might be Edit on V3), then select your
C:UsersFergusAnderson

Folder this should correct all the links.

You just need to match the folder so the family historian folder is in the same relative postion, from your screen shots the directory links you posted seem to be missing a level.

You can store your photos by surname if you like, personally I don't as my family have a habit of having a variety of surnames in one photo.

[Fergus]

Dear Jane,

I am still stuck - I think that I probably need somebody to log on to my PC remotely or talk me through it.

Surely it is so simple yet I can not get get my photos to show up.

I do want to get the photos in the right place before I upgrade to V4. Perhaps I should move the photos to the recommended place, then do the re-linking to 'work with external files'

Fergus

[PeterR]

Fergus,
I hope I can help by expanding on what Jane suggested. The 'Work with External File Links' window shows that the links in your GEDCOM file were made when your 'Family Historian' folder was within your 'Family Trees' folder; that folder structure was on your old PC, but not on your new PC, where your 'Family Historian' folder is within your 'Fergus Anderson' folder.

You should be able to click on and thus highlight the 'Family Trees' folder as shown in your 'Work with External File Links' window.  Then the 'Move...' button should become available (un-greyed) and you should click on it.  You should then see a pop-up window showing the actual folder structure on your new PC.  Within that pop-up window you should click on (and thus expand) the 'Users' folder, and then click on the 'Fergus Anderson' folder.  Then click the 'OK' button.

This should automatically update all the links in your GEDCOM file so that they match the actual folder structure on your new PC.  If this doesn't happen, it would help if you could say what does happen when you try.

[Fergus]

Dear PeterR

Many thanks for the reply. Sadly my window for Ext Links has now changed to the one shown in the image below...



I think this is the result on me trying again and again to get the pics linked.

I am beginning to wonder if the link is now correct but now perhaps some other thing is not allowing the images to display? Perhaps some form of 'access or file locking' within the permissions of the directory? I may be barking up the wrong tree here.

Kind regards Fergus

[PeterR]

Fergus,
The links have changed, but still do not match the actual folder structure on your new PC.

In the 'Work with External File Links' window try highlighting the 'FH-photos' folder and then click the 'Move...' button.  Then, in the pop-up window showing the actual folder structure, click on your 'Family Historian' folder and then click on 'OK'.  With any luck this will update the links correctly.  If not, please let us know what happens.

[Fergus]

Hi PeterR

MANY THANKS - it worked - I do not know how to show my gratitude - probally the electronic equivalent of chocolates!

Absolutly great now to see the pics.

Would you like to comment now on my file structure with reference to FH or not. I want to get it into the 'advised' structure before upgrading to V4. I think that the advice is to now sweep everything into one folder that keeps docs, pics and Gedcom file together. Do I need to change my layout?

Do you think keeping images with lastname_firstname.jpg format is good and keeping them in A B C folders etc?

Many thanks again Fergus

[PeterR]

Fergus, glad our instructions worked OK!
Before you upgrade to version 4, I strongly recommend you look at some of Jane's excellent video demonstrations:
http://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=how_to:index
particularly the one on 'Understanding Projects'.  That will also recommend that you study the relevant Help material, especially 'Project Window: Notes for Upgrading Users', which includes:

Any multimedia files that are located in the same folder as the GEDCOM file you are importing, or in a subfolder beneath it, will be copied to the 'Media' subfolder within the new project folder, preserving the original folder structure as much as possible. For example, if the GEDCOM file was in a folder 'C:My family', and you had multimedia files in that folder, they would be copied directly to the new 'Media' folder when you created the new project. If you had other multimedia files in a folder 'C:My familyPics', a new 'Pics' subfolder would be created within the new 'Media' folder, and those multimedia files would be copied there. Any files which are not in the same folder as the GEDCOM file, or in a subfolder beneath it, would just be copied directly to the new 'media' folder.

I think it is easiest if, before you upgrade, your multimedia are in a folder structure within/below the folder that contains your GEDCOM file.  Apart from that, you can continue to use whatever folder structure you find convenient.  There is certainly no need to move everything into a single folder.  Version 4 should be happy to use your existing folder structure.  However, multimedia files not actually linked to records in your GEDCOM file will be left where they are, and not moved.  As always, it does no harm to back everything up before you start!

[Anonymous]

[message withdrawn]